Customers fuel up at the Garden Grove Costco where regular gas was selling for $4.51 Monday morning. BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The average price of gas in Orange County fell by less than a cent Tuesday after a weekend of record-setting increases that kept some motorists from filling up their tanks.

O.C. motorists were paying an average price of $4.689 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to AAA. That was down from $4.690 a day earlier – an almost imperceptible drop, but after days of soaring prices, a drop nonetheless.

Motorists are still paying an average of about 51 cents more than last week. Compared with last year, a gallon of regular gas is about 91 cents more expensive.

On the state level, though, the average price of regular gas went up fractions of a penny, to $4.67.

Statewide and in Orange County, DeHaan said gas prices could decrease as little as just a few pennies or as much as 10 to 15 cents gallon by the end of this weekend.

In California, the priciest gas was in the San Luis Obispo area, where the average gallon cost $4.75, according to AAA's fuel-gauge report. The cheapest gas was in the Chico area: $4.53 a gallon.

Late last week, amid supply shortages, refinery problems and a statewide panic, Orange County prices shot up 19 cents in one 24-hour period.

Analysts said a series of problems at key California oil facilities sent prices soaring, culminating in the record-shattering run of the past week. Fire slowed production at one of the state's biggest refineries in Northern California. A power outage disrupted another big refinery in Torrance. Contamination shut down a major pipeline.

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